Jammu: J&K People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone on Thursday warned that the social disempowerment of ethnic Kashmiri speaking population through inequitable reservation framework is a post-dated cheque for disaster and cannot be ignored.
Lone, while speaking in the J&K assembly, said mostly IAS officers frame these policies and they come and go, leaving elected representatives and future generations to face the consequences of such social disasters. “Reservation system is creating a generational disadvantage for the Kashmiri speaking community and it is a social re-ordering at play and a post-dated cheque for disaster,” he said.
The legislator from Handwara constituency in Kashmir raised concerns over the growing “marginalisation and social disempowerment” of Kashmiri-speaking residents due to what he described as a “deeply inequitable reservation system”. He stated that there is a systematic decline in the representation of Kashmiri speakers in prestigious government positions. “Kashmiri-speaking people form a distinct ethnic group, and we are seeing that with every passing day, in every exam, fewer of them are making it – not because they are incompetent, but because their entry space is being choked,” said Lone while citing that 17%, 25% and 19% ethnic Kashmiri candidates qualified for J&K administrative officers selected from Kashmir from 2021 to 2023.
Lone said that the current reservation system, which covers approximately 60% of available positions, disproportionately affects Kashmir.